Duncan Francis Cannon, bachelor of science in chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry, ACS certification, and with university distinction.  

  
 Those were the words we came to Charlottesville to hear and I confess that I got a bit teary.

We flew into DCA on Friday, scheduling Jesse’s flight to land within 30 minutes of ours. Of course she landed at the opposite end of the airport from us so finding each other was a comedy sketch of cell phone geolocation: “No, where are you? I don’t see a Dunkin Donuts. What do you mean you are downstairs? There is no downstairs. Meet us at the rental car counter. What? There has to be a sign for rental cars. No, I don’t think you need to take a bus. Are you sure you’re at the same airport as us?”

Eventually we found each other, the rental car, and the way out of the airport and ran straight into a DC landmark – traffic. We were trying to get out of the city at 3pm on a Friday afternoon. Well that was stupid planning on my part. The drive to Charlottesville that usually took just over 2 hours lasted 3.5 and we barely made it to the bed and breakfast before the 7pm check in deadline. Luckily we are longstanding customers at the Foxfield Inn (can’t recommend it highly enough BTW) so Dan and Katheryn still met us with hugs and a smiles – and a much needed glass of wine!  Then off to greet the graduate, score some dinner and rest up for the big day. 

Saturday arrived warm and sunny  and threatening thunderstorms. We found seats on the lawn in the shade and watched the endless parade of graduates stream in. It took more than  30 minutes for everyone in caps and gowns to process from the rotunda to their seats in front of Old Cabell Hall.  

 Then the black robed mass sat in the sun for 90 minutes of speeches and it was done. The commencement speaker was Govemor Terry McAuliffe who was entertaining and mercifully short and yet still managed to piss off the conservatives in the audience with references to reproductive rights, gay marriage, and female presidential candidates. 

We had several hours before the department ceremony where we would hear his name so off to get pizza and beer in the frightful heat.  

 Cap and gown donned again for the walk across the stage with the other 107 undergraduates, dozen or so Masters degrees, and another dozen PhDs to be hooded. I don’t remember  much from my ceremony – other than it was unbearably hot for Wisconsin in May – but I’m pretty sure my advisor did not wax eloquently about my research and present my hood. Then again, it was 19 years earlier almost to the day so it’s likely that such details have been lost to my memory. 

After more “Pomp and Circumstance” than anyone should be forced to endure, we were free to put on comfy clothes and really celebrate. And where do Cannon’s do that, especially in May? The Melting Pot of course! My mother’s favorite place to not eat nearly enough and still complain about being full. Funnily enough, we were two tables away from the Conover clan. Jeremy and Duncan have been friends since 3rd grade and shared an apartment one year so it seemed fitting that we should meet them by happenstance. We then rolled out of the restaurant and the young folks played Mario cart until the wee hours while the old folks waddled off to bed. 

Sunday was cloudy, somewhat rainy, and still hot but we were no longer required to follow a particular dress code so comfy was the order of the day. Frank and Duncan spent some time replacing the radiator and brake master cylinder in Duncan’s car (whose name is Steve BTW) and then we were off to another of our favorite destinations: a winery!  We found ourselves at the Trump winery which we had not been to since he took it over from the Kluge family. We were not fans of the wine when they owned it so we were not holding out much hope now. 

And yet we were pleasantly surprised. We genuinely liked all the wines, some more than others, and purchased a bottle of the sparkling rose to share with friends we were meeting there. Duncan has gone to Sunday school with Kate for as long as either of them can remember and over the years we have had the honor of calling the Rozelsky’s our friends. We hadn’t seen them since the move to KC last summer so we passed a pleasant hour or so catching up, talking about plans for after graduation since Kate had also just graduated and we helped celebrate her 22nd birthday. (It would have been my mom’s 77th so a drink seemed appropriate. Miss you mom.)

  Then we indulged ourselves in the other thing we miss in MO besides good local wines: mountains. We drove through the foothills of the Appalachians and found ourselves at Devils Backbone Brewery for dinner. The food was excellent, the boys declared the beer delicious and we followed the meal with a wander along Rockfish Creek before heading back into town. A brief stop at Duncan’s pigsty, er, house to congratulate the other graduates and their families then Frank and I headed back to the B&B so that the youngsters could have their time together.  

And now we head back to KC, Jesse heads back to Vermont, and Duncan continues to ponder what his next adventure is . It is unlikely that the four of us will be together again in Virginia any time soon so it was nice to have had some family time there. Let’s see where our other family adventures take us next.  You can be sure the Bow Tie Brigade will be there.